EU opposition to conceding any more on agriculture in the WTO negotiations to facilitate agreement in other areas is growing, according to the Minister for Agriculture and Food.
Before she left yesterday to lobby the French and Italian agriculture ministers for their support later today, Mary Coughlan predicted there would be very difficult negotiations next week in Geneva.
She agreed that "the enemy within" the EU was the gravest difficulty, with Sweden, Britain and Denmark not averse to further concessions to the US and other countries.
"We are part of a group of 14 countries which are opposed to conceding any more and we will not accept an agreement which will be made at the expense of agriculture," she told a press conference at Kildalton, Co Kilkenny.
Ms Coughlan said the outcome of the negotiations could have an enormous impact on the future of agriculture here and in the EU and agriculture should not be sacrificed for the sake of a new agreement. "We have vital interests to defend in relation to domestic supports, export subsidies, market access and non-trade concerns and there are a number of particular issues which are of critical importance from my point of view," she added.
She wanted to ensure that the EU's system of decoupled direct payments continued to qualify as non trade-distorting payments under the so-called Green Box and would remain exempt from reductions. When an end date had been agreed on export subsidies, she would be insisting on equal treatment for all forms of subsidy and for flexible phasing out arrangements.
Market access, she said, was critical for Ireland and she wanted to retain the maximum possible level of protection. There were threats not only to the Irish beef sector but to other sectors as well. Ireland was also being disadvantaged in comparison with imports because of the high food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards applied here which were not applied elsewhere.